Presentation Zen [55]
In the world of judo, founder Jigoro Kano had this to say about dealing with an opponent: “Victory over the opponent is achieved by giving way to the strength of the opponent, adapting to it and taking advantage of it, turning it in the end to your own advantage.”
Many years ago I was giving a presentation to a large group. It was going very well, but one person in the audience often interrupted with irrelevant comments to the point of becoming a distraction for the audience. I had many occasions to become angry (but did not). I could sense that the audience felt I was going to rip into the guy if there was one more interruption. And frankly, they would not have blamed me. But I remained respectful of the man and did not show any irritation or anger (nor did I allow his interruptions to derail the talk). After the presentation, several people complimented me on my handling of the “interrupter.” The ironic thing was that although the boisterous man may have intended to damage my effectiveness, he actually had the opposite influence. By flowing with the moment, not butting heads with him—which only would have made things worse—and showing self-control, I gained respect from the audience.
Contribution and Being in the Moment
Every presentation is a performance, and Ben Zander knows a thing or two about the art of performance. You may know Ben Zander as the talented conductor for the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, but he is also one of the truly gifted presenters of our time. He’s so good, in fact, so inspiring and so informative, that he could spend all his time just talking to companies and organizations about leadership and transformation. As Dan Pink and I were riding the train back to central Osaka in the spring of 2007, he tipped me off to Ben Zander. There are a lot of good presenters, Dan said, but Ben Zander is one of those gifted few who is in another league. That same day I then purchased The Art of Possibility: Transforming Professional and Personal Life (Penguin) by Rosamund and Benjamin Zander, and I was inspired. The suggestion to check out Ben Zander as a speaker/presenter was the best tip I have received in a very long time. Ironically, the next month I presented for a Fortune 500 company and found that every single person in the room was well-versed in the Zanders’ teachings and that their simple advice had a powerful effect within their company.
Here’s a sample of the kind of remarkable messages Ben Zander conveys to his audiences. In this case, he is talking in the context of musicianship, but his words can be applied to most of our presentation situations, too:
“This is the moment—this is the most important moment right now. Which is: We are about contribution. That’s what our job is. It’s not about impressing people. It’s not about getting the next job. It’s about contributing something.”
—Benjamin Zander
It’s not always about success or failure, it’s about contribution and being fully present. Rather than asking questions such as “Will I be appreciated?” or “Will I win them over?” and so on, ask “How can I make a contribution?” Here is what Ben Zander said to a talented young musician while coaching him on his musical performance: “We are about contribution, that’s what our job is… everyone was clear you contributed passion to the people in this room. Did you do it better than the next violinist, or did he do better than a pianist? I don’t care, because in contribution, there is no better!”
The Zanders say that rather than getting bogged down in a sea of measurement where you compare yourself to others and worry about whether you are worthy to be making the presentation or whether someone else could be doing it better, instead realize that at this moment in time—right here right now—you are the gift, and your message is the contribution. There is no “better,” there is only now. It really is pretty simple.